N.Korea says relations with Russia are 'powerful fortress' for preserving peace

SEOUL — Relations between North Korea and Russia serve as a "powerful fortress" for preserving peace and deterring the military threats of "imperialists," a North Korean official said on Sunday.

Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il made the claim in a press statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a rare summit in Russia's Far East on September 13, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The US unjust and outrageous hostility toward the North Korea-Russia traditional friendly and cooperative relations and its attempt to interfere in them have gone beyond the red line," Im said.

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"Recently, the US groundlessly termed the development of the good neighbourly relations between the two countries 'violation of resolutions' of the UN and 'violation of international law' in a bid to give the world public a false impression that the North Korea-Russia cooperation poses a 'threat' to global peace and security," he added.

"This is a vivid expression of the US hegemony-oriented way of thinking based on the Cold War-style confrontation logic."

The Vice Minister went on to say the "confrontational" moves of the US and the West have pushed North Korea-Russia relations to "the height of development," thus ensuring the "balance of the international mechanical structure and further improving the world strategic security environment".

"The North Korea-Russia relations are developing onto a new high stage, according to the strategic decision of the top leaders of the two countries," he said.

"They serve as a powerful fortress and strategic stronghold for preserving peace and for deterring the imperialists' high-handed and arbitrary practices, military threats and interference."

On the other hand, he claimed it is the US-led "alliance" that is becoming more and more "dangerous" as it threatens the security environment of independent sovereign states.

"The US-Japan-'South Korea' triangular military alliance, which has clearly betrayed hostility toward the North Korea and its neighbouring countries, and NATO, the mastermind of the Ukrainian crisis, are just the cancer-like entities jeopardising the international order based on the purpose and the principle of the UN Charter and posing a grave threat to global peace and security," he said.

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